CHAPTER IX
MOSQUE AND TOMB
If the palaces of Muhammadan India, except for the extreme beauty of the decoration, can but rarely take the same rank in architecture as those of the Hindu princes of Rajputana, on the other hand its mosques and tombs are unsurpassed, and generally appeal more to the European critic than the earlier works of the Indian master-builder, to whom the entire credit of their creation is due; for though, like all great artists, he borrowed from his neighbours, especially from Persia, the Indian mosque and tomb are Indian and nothing else—as perfect in masonic craftsmanship as those of Persia are in the art of brick and glazed terra-cotta.
The striking contrast between the most remarkable of Indian mosques and tombs, especially those of the strict Sunni school, and the best known Hindu buildings has made many critics besides Fergusson ignore the derivative character of all Islamic architecture, and to attribute to Pathān and Mogul some subtle artistic sense which was lacking in the mind of the Indian master-builder before he became a slave of the Musalman conqueror or a convert to the creed of Islam.
In the beginning of the thirteenth century, when the first Indo-Muhammadan dynasty was founded
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